By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterAS THE Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI) intensifies its probe into last Wednesday's controversial killing by the police of two men and two women in the district of Kraal, north central Clarendon, Member of Parliament, Pearnel Charles, has requested that Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes immediately get hold of the two illegal guns the police claimed they found at the scene.
"Out of respect for the Commissioner, I won't say anything about the guns. I gave him some vital information about the guns and I am giving the Police High Command 24 hours to act on the information," the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman said yesterday at a meeting in the district.
RESIDENT'S CLAIM
He claimed he had information, plus witnesses, that the guns were planted at the scene by the police after the shooting. He asserted that one resident saw when the police removed the weapons from their vehicle and planted them at the scene.
"On my arrival here, Mr. Charles gave me some frightening information about the guns," said Derrick Smith, JLP spokesman on national security, who was also at the meeting. Also present was Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, the party's spokesperson on information.
Residents told The Gleaner yesterday, that on Wednesday an unmarked white Toyota Hiace bus, with tinted windows, arrived in the district, drove past the deceased persons' gate and up the road. A few minutes later it returned and made a sudden stop at the gate.
"The police then came out and began firing wildly at everybody in the yard. One of them chased and fired several shots at me. I had to run through the bushes," said a 22-year-old farmer who said he escaped from the scene.
He was supported by a 27-year-old farmer who said he was playing cards on the verandah when the incident occurred. The farmer, who sustained multiple bruises and minor cuts while running through the bushes, said the police fired several shots at him.
Eyewitness claimed the police shot and killed Kirk Gordon, alias 'Renegade', and his friend, Matthew James, first, then dragged their bodies out into the yard. They said the police next went inside a bedroom occupied by Angella Richards. Lewena Thompson's eight-year-old daughter was reportedly lying with her on one of the beds, while Ms. Richards was hiding beneath another bed.
The infant was reportedly taken from the arms of her mother and asked to wait outside under a mango tree. She then heard gunshots and later saw the police taking the bodies of both women outside.
Mr. Charles said since the controversial shooting, the police have returned to the district several times looking for the witnesses.
Human rights activists from Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and Families Against State Terrorism (FAST) have joined the JLP in calling for the Government to dismantle the Reneto Adams-led Crime Management Unit (CMU).
